A ruling by the EU’s top court that a Polish system for disciplining judges contravenes the bloc’s laws is „a political judgement” that „smacks of colonial thinking,” the Polish justice minister has said.

Zbigniew Ziobro told reporters the ruling had been handed down „at the behest of the European Commission,” the EU’s executive arm, amid a long-standing feud over alleged rule-of-law breaches between Brussels and Warsaw. He also argued that the Polish systems for appointing judges „is almost an exact copy of that existing in Spain, where EU authorities have found no threat to the independence of the judiciary.”

Source: Polskie Radio

Inflation in Poland stood at 4.4 percent in year-on-year terms in June, the country’s Central Statistical Office has reported this week.

Poland’s central bank this month raised its inflation forecasts for the country, saying it expects the consumer price index to hit 4.2 percent this year, followed by 3.3 percent in 2022. Poland’s central bank chief, Adam Glapiński, in early July dismissed short-term concerns over inflation in an interview with the Financial Times.

Source – Polskie Radio

More than 215,000 customers were left without electricity earlier this week as more storms with heavy rainfall battered Poland on Wednesday night and in the early hours of Thursday.

Fierce winds uprooted trees and disrupted power supplies, especially in the south and centre of the country, according to the Government Centre for Security. Firefighters were called out over 6,000 times over a 24 hour period to pump out water from flooded buildings, and remove fallen trees from roads. The Government Centre for Security has sent out text messages alerting people in various provinces over scorching temperatures, intense rainfall and possible storms causing a risk of local flooding and power outages.

Source – Polskie Radio

Four cyclists from Pomerania, who set off on a bicycle pilgrimage to Rome at the end of June, have safely reached their destination.

The quartet of intrepid travellers took seventeen days to travel the 2,300 kilometres journey, visiting four countries along the way. This is not the first trip for this group of cyclists. Two years ago, they cycled from Łeba to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Their next challenge is to cycle to Jerusalem.  

Source – Radio Gdańsk

Weather

Today will be a muggy day with risks of thunderstorms in a gentle breeze and temperatures will reach 27 degrees centigrade (81 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to sweltering 19 degrees overnight. Saturday will be sunny with scattered clouds in a gentle breeze and temperatures will reach 26 degrees during the day and 16 degrees overnight.